The Treasury Department on Tuesday tweeted out a chart making
that case — comparing the Russian economy to other major emerging
markets and noting some of the factors that have pushed it to the
brink of another recession.

Russia's emerging-market equity performance is down 13.3% year
over year, far below Mexico's 5.3% decline. The Russian Ruble,
meanwhile, has depreciated 7.7% against the U.S. dollar, another
low for major emerging markets. And the change in its 10-year
yield has been 171, below such countries as South Africa, India,
Hungary, Poland, and Colombia.

"We don't expect there to be an immediate change in Russian
policy. What we need to do is to steadily show the Russians that
there [is] going to be much more severe economic pain, much more
severe political isolation, and frankly, that Russia stands far
more to lose continuing these actions over time than pursuing
de-escalation," a senior administration official said.

"And ultimately, we believe that that can affect Russia’s
calculus over time and give them the incentive to deescalate this
situation."